NSF Convergence Accelerator Track M: Distributed Flexible Strain Sensors to Enable Proprioceptive Cochlear Implant Electrodes

Modern minimally-invasive surgical techniques employ flexible and continuously deformable catheters, endoscopes, and electrodes to navigate the complex windings of human anatomy. However, these devices currently lack sensory feedback and can carry a significant risk of complications due to inadvertent surgical trauma. This convergence research project will combine multidisciplinary expertise to enable thin deformable medical instruments, including electrodes and catheters, which will detect their own deformation and synthesize clinically-meaningful interpretations of the data via a bio-inspired approach. This project narrows its focus to a single application: cochlear implants (CIs) to address hearing loss (HL), a widespread problem in our aging society, which is also a leading cause of dementia and depression. This research aims to improve outcomes and safety of CI surgery, help relieve the burden and costs of HL to patients, and advance the health and welfare of the American public. The systems and methods developed in this research can be applied to additional surgical procedures in the future to enable a positive impact for an even larger portion of the American public. The culmination of this research will be to realize a flexible thin-film distributed strain sensor array with accompanying machine learning models to extract clinically-meaningful data when paired with a CI electrode. The project follows a convergence research approach to incorporate multiple viewpoints and disciplines, considering the needs in the surgical field and the opportunities in engineering and design. Furthermore, the sensor system is designed to be seamlessly integrated into CIs without adding any extra bulk or stiffness to the implant, thus making the system interoperable with the traditional implants and techniques that surgeons have been using for years. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.